Horsesdaily 2007 Pan Am News: U.S. Sets the Stage with Five Riders at the Top of the Field

EVENTING WE WILL GO

U.S. Sets the Stage with Five Riders at the Top of the Field

Bradely, O'Connor, Dean and Dutton Photo by Diana DeRosa The Eventers are off with dressage finished and the cross country and show jumping still to go. The Dressage took place at the Deodoro Military Club, the National Equestrian Federation. Unlike the Dressage riders (don’t confuse this with the Eventing dressage) who were first time competitors; the U.S. Eventers included some of the top riders in the world, five of them Olympic veterans. Those five led the pack. After the Dressage was finished Mara Dean rode Nicki Henly to the lead (40.20), Stephen Bradley and From were 2nd (46.50), Karen O’Connor and her pony Theodore O’Connor 3rd (47.10), Darren Chiacchia and Better I Do It stood 4th (49.40) and Phillip Dutton aboard Truluck 5th (49.80). Gina Miles riding McKinlaigh finished 11th (56.30).

The day started with 27 riders. The United States, Argentina and Brazil all have six individual and team members; Canada has five, and Chile three (except that one withdrew shortly after he entered the dressage arena). Jamaica and Uruguay will only compete as individuals. The top two placed Teams will automatically be qualified for the Olympics, if they haven’t already qualified (which the U.S. has done).

With such great dressage results we wanted to plan ahead for cross country but we continue to realize that every day is a learning curve here in Brazil as to how they do things. Normally we would have a few opportunities to walk the course, but not so here. Our first opportunity will be tomorrow (Saturday) morning the day the cross country actually takes place. That’s not the norm but then again with these international events more and more it seems there is no norm. Each country keeps an eye on the rules and regulations but in the end they also incorporate their own set of guidelines.

Instead we’ll be going out early and attempting to see as much of the course as we can before the first rider starts. So, since we couldn’t see the course I figured the next best thing was to find someone who did.